The question arose in other threads about how many omnibuses it would take to reprint Fawcett's major Golden Age characters. I opted to go to extreme effort to answer this question. Because, in clinical terms, I am "tetched in the haid."
Since DC owns the rights to Fawcett characters, I am using DC's omnibus approach as my model.
As evidenced by the Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman Golden Age omnibus series, DC reprints only covers and stories, not entire issues. That is my starting point. I am only counting actual stories, and pertinent covers — not quizzes, puzzle pages, text pages, ad pages, "Comix Cards," house ads, contents pages, forewords, etc., even if they involve significant characters (which makes me sad).
DC omnibuses generally run 750-850 pages, so I am using that as a yardstick.
I looked into existing reprints, and to my surprise, a great many of these stories are already in print — not at DC, but at Gwandanaland. I knew that Gwandanaland reprinted characters in the public domain, but I didn't think that would include characters like Captain Marvel Jr., whose rights are owned by DC and who is still appearing in print. Legionnaire Richard Willis has often mentioned Gwandanaland, but I had no idea their catalog was so extensive. I should have listened more attentively to Richard. Anyway, I included whatever existing reprints I could find.
Finally, let me emphasize that these numbers are not exact. I went for speed, not accuracy.
I went through title after title and wrote down covers and stories (with number of pages for the latter). Then I'd add up the long list of page numbers — but only once. If someone was paying me to do this, I would go through the numbers again and again until I was certain of the accuracy of my final tally. I didn't do that here. Once was enough, because life is short.
Also, I did a bunch of them in my head, because I can. But my eyesight isn't the best any more, so (shrug). You get what you get.
And it's not important, because for the purpose of this enterprise, I don't need accurate numbers, I just need approximate ones. And that is what I have.
Here we go:
THE MARVEL FAMILY
CAPTAIN MARVEL
I really pared it down. I only counted Captain Marvel stories and Captain Marvel covers. But we're still looking at 64 Pages of Captain Marvel Adventures/Captain Marvel Adventures #1-150; All Hero Comics (1943); America's Greatest Comics #1-8; Captain Marvel and the Good Humor Man (1950); Captain Marvel and the Lieutenants of Safety #1-3 (1950); Captain Marvel Story Book #1-4; Captain Marvel Thrill Book (1941); Flash Comics #1/Thrill Comics #1 (1940); Holiday Comics (1942); Marvel Family #2-6, 8-10, 12-13, 15-35, 37-43, 45-47, 49-51, 53-55, 57-58, 60-61; Special Edition Comics (1940); Whiz Comics #2-155 and covers to Fawcett's Funny Animals #1, Lance O'Casey #1 and Master Comics #21 and 23.
The damage? 8,030 pages. That comes to a minimum of 10 omnibuses.
Gwandanaland has a lot of this in print, in various series.
CAPTAIN MARVEL JR.
I took the page counts (story and cover, where applicable) from America's Greatest Comics #8, Captain Marvel Jr. #1-118, Holiday Comics (1942) and Master Comics #22-133, and came up with 5,468 pages. That's about seven omnibuses.
Gwandanaland is up to Volume 9 in CMJ reprints.
THE MARVEL FAMILY
The Marvel Family series had 1,419 pages that were specifically "The Marvel Family" stories and covers with all three of the Big 3. That's two omnibuses.
MARY MARVEL
The distaff member of the Marvel Family's Big 3 appeared in Marvel Family #3-10, 12-35, 37-39, 41-43, 45-47, 49-51, 53-55, 57-58, 60; Mary Marvel #1-29 and Wow Comics #9-58. Covers and stories add up to 1,251 pages. (Which seems low to me, so I may have miscounted.) If accurate, that sounds like two omnibuses to me.
HOPPY THE MARVEL BUNNY
I found Hoppy in Fawcett's Funny Animals #1-68, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny #1-15 and, mysteriously, a single four-page story in Master Comics #34. Page count: 991. Drop the 84 or so covers, and Hoppy would fit comfortably in a single omnibus.
Interestingly, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny became an ordinary anthropomorphic funny animal named Hoppy in Fawcett's Funny Animals #69, and for the rest of the title's run. AFAIK, there was no in-story explanation.
THE B-LIST
BULLETMAN
I found Bulletman (usually with Bulletgirl and occasionally Bulletdog) in America's Greatest Comics #1-8; Bulletman #1-12, 14-16 (there was no #13); Master Comics #7-60, 96, 101-103, 105-106; Nickel Comics #1-8 and Whiz Comics #106. Page count: 1,705. That could squeeze into two omnibuses.
Gwandanaland has five volumes of Bulletman in print, through Master Comics #60, which doesn't include Bulletman's last six appearances in that title or Whiz Comics #106, and possibly others.
CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT
This radio star appeared in All Hero Comics and Captain Midnight #1-67 at Fawcett. I counted 2,046 pages, which is about three omnibuses.
Gwandanaland claims to have reprinted the entire run. Dark Horse released two regular-sized hardcovers, with selected stories (which, honestly, is probably all anyone needs).
CAPTAIN VIDEO
All six Fawcett issues have been collected by PS Artbooks in Roy Thomas Presents Captain Video Vol. 1. There may be Captain Video comics at other publishers, as the property was licensed.
COMMANDO YANK
Commando Yank is an American who inexplicably defines himself with a British term, dresses up in gray Spandex and fights Nazis. I found Commando Yank in America’s Greatest Comics #4-7, Whiz Comics #102 and Wow Comics #6-64, for a total of 861 pages. One omnibus should do.
Gwandanaland has the bulk of Commando Yank in print, but says in their Amazon listing that they don't have all his appearances due to copyright issues.
IBIS THE INVINCIBLE
Just like Shazam, Black Adam, Dr. Fate and Hawkman, Ibis was tied to ancient Egypt. Heck, just like Hawkman, he was a reincarnated Egyptian prince. I think his girlfriend, Taia, was the actual ancient Egyptian chick he used to date, somehow brought back to life. He had a magic wand that allowed him to do anything, so technically he was invincible. How did they write so many stories that didn't end on the second panel? I won't know until I read them. Anyway, I found him in All Hero, America's Greatest Comics #4, Ibis the Invincible #1-6 and Whiz Comics #2-155, totaling 1,323 pages. Sounds like a two-volume omnibus set to me.
MINUTE MAN
There was no explanation for why this guy was could do the Captain America-level things he did. But I found "America's One-Man Army" in America's Greatest Comics #1-7, Bulletman #3, Master Comics #11-49 and Minute Man #1-3, for 699 pages. A single omnibus would do it.
Gwandanaland has two volumes in print. Minute Man: The One-Man Army — Volume 1 collects Minute Man’s run in Master Comics #11-49. Minute Man: The One-Man Army — Volume 2 collects Minute Man’s appearances in Minute Man #1-3 and America’s Greatest Comics #1-7.
MR. SCARLET
I found the non-powered Mr. Scarlet (and Pinky) in America's Greatest Comics #1-7 and Wow Comics #1-69, for a total of 691 pages. One omnibus would do it.
Gwandanaland seems to have reprinted Mr. Scarlet through Wow Comics #38. It has also published America's Greatest Comics in its entirety.
SPY SMASHER
I found Spy Smasher in America's Greatest Comics #1-6, 8; Spy Smasher #1-11; Whiz Comics #2-83 and the one-shots All Hero Comics (1943) and Holiday Comics (1942). His last seven appearances in Whiz were as "Crime Smasher," and he had one eponymous issue with that name. I counted 1,483 pages, which would make a nice two-volume omnibus set.
Gwandanaland has five volumes of Spy Smasher in print that run through his final appearance in Crime Smasher #1. There are some skips in various volumes, which may or may not be included in other volumes, so I don't know if the collection is comprehensive.
THE OTHER GUYS
These characters would fit nicely into Fawcett's Forgotten Heroes, a two-volume series which I just made up. Gwandanaland has already collected The Hunchback, Diamond Jack, Master Man, Red Gaucho and Warlock the Wizard in Lost Heroes of Fawcett Comics: Volume 1.
ATOM BLAKE
A boy gets fantastic abilities from a ring left him by his scientist father, and has adventures. Atom appeared in Wow Comics for a total of 52 pages.
BALBO THE BOY MAGICIAN
Balbo is a teen stage magician who uses his tricks to solve crimes, a strip spun off from "El Carim." Balbo appeared in America's Greatest Comics #7 and Master Comics #32-47 for a total of 182 pages. I may or may not have counted the "Balbo's Magic Page" fillers.
CAPTAIN VENTURE AND THE PLANET PRINCESS
I normally wouldn't include this sort of Flash Gordon wannabe, but he was given 128 pages in Nickel Comics #4-8 and Master Comics #8-22.
DEVIL'S DAGGER
This is about a reporter who goes after a crime kingpin by dressing in a costume and fighting his thugs with knives. Or maybe just a single knife, the "Devil's Dagger," I'm not sure. Amazingly, when DD catches the bad guy in Master Comics #20, he retires his superhero gig, confesses to his editor, and the strip ends. He appeared in Master Comics #1-20, for a total of 122 pages.
DIAMOND JACK
Jack got Hourman-level powers from a magic diamond. He appeared in Slam-Bang Comics #1-7 and Wow Comics #1 (74 pages).
EL CARIM
Sargon wannabe. Appeared in Master Comics #1-32 for a total of 209 pages.
THE HUNCHBACK
The Hunchback was some guy who fought crime wearing a hunchback costume. He appeared in Wow Comics #2-5 (51 pages).
MARK SWIFT AND THE TIME RETARDER
Mark Swift is a time-traveling hero who long preceded Rip Hunter. He appeared in Slam-Bang Comics #1-7 and Master Comics #7 for 65 pages.
MASTER MAN
Master Man got super-powers from a magic capsule. (Drugs are good, mkay?) He appeared in Master Comics #1-6 (46 pages).
PHANTOM EAGLE
Phantom Eagle was one of the many aviators, especially at Fawcett, who took on the Nazis without the formality of actually joining any country's air force. He appeared in Wow Comics #6-69 for a total of 330 pages. His longevity at Fawcett and re-creation at Marvel puts him on this list, where many others of his idiotic ilk don't appear.
RED GAUCHO
He was a gaucho. He wore red. He fought crime. Red Gaucho appeared in Nickel Comics #4-8 and Master Comics #8-13 (65 pages).
SPOOKS
A dead guy returns to the land of the living with a keeper from the afterlife in order to fight crime, with the ability to possess people. Sort of a cross between Kid Eternity and Deadman, only played for laughs, in Wow Comics #6-9 (24 pages).
WARLOCK THE WIZARD
Warlock the Wizard was a wizard named Warlock who fought crime, duh. He appeared in Nickel Comics #1-8 (55 pages).
WHITE RAJAH
This is a Mowgli who grows up to be an Indian Tarzan. He appeared in Master Comics #1-6 and Wow Comics #1 for a total of 28 pages.
ZORO, THE MYSTERY MAN
I'm not sure what category to put this guy in. He's a mystery man who is sometimes actually referred to, in story, as a "mystery man." He is asked to solve strange crimes because somehow he has a reputation as a guy who solves strange crimes. He uses a sword cane. He has a pet cheetah. He has no obvious reason for doing the things he does. He's a mystery, all right. He appeared in Master Comics #7-22 for a total of 139 pages.
OTHER GENRES
Horror: We can thank PS Artbooks for having already reprinted all of Fawcett's horror books in their entirety. Those include: Beware! Terror Tales #1-8, Strange Suspense Stories #1-5, This Magazine Is Haunted #1-14, Unknown World #1/Strange Stories from Another World #2-5 and Worlds Beyond #1/Worlds of Fear #2-10.
Western: I only annotated characters that were included in superhero anthologies, which alerted me to their existence. (Sorry, Gabby Hayes fans!) What I got was Buck Jones, Frontier Marshal (Master Comics #6-32); Frontier Marshal (a different frontier marshal who isn't Buck Jones, Master Comics #1-5); the ubiquitous Golden Arrow (All Hero Comics one-shot, America's Greatest Comics #8, Holiday Comics one-shot, Golden Arrow/Golden Arrow Western #1-6, Whiz Comics #2-154); and Lucky Lawton (Slam-Bang Comics #1-7, Wow Comics #1).
Jungle: These Tarzan/Sheena wannabes included the oddly named Doctor Voodoo (Whiz Comics #6-34); Jungle Twins (Nickel Comics #1-8); Lee Granger, Jungle King (Slam-Bang #1-7, Master Comics #7-10); and Nyoka the Jungle Girl (Holiday Comics, Master Comics #50-132, Jungle Girl/Nyoka the Jungle Girl #1-77).
Sea-going Adventurers: This was apparently once a thing. The ones I stumbled across included Hurricane Hansen (Slam-Bang Comics #1-7), Lance O'Casey (All Hero, Holiday Comics, Master Comics #49 and Whiz #2-51, 53, 103-105, 107-109, 111-113, 115-117, 119-121, 124-126, 128-129, 131-132, 134, 136-155) and Shipwreck Roberts (Master Comics #1-7).
Two-Fisted Reporters: Scoop Smith (Whiz #2-5) and Streak Sloan (Master Comics #1-3).
Two-Fisted Detectives: Dan Dare (Whiz #2-22) was a private detective and Mr. Clue (Master Comics #1-3) was a real one. Jim Dolan (Slam-Bang Comics #1-7, Wow Comics #1-5) was a former FBI agent, now an editor of a detective magazine, who would solve unsolved crimes and write them up for his magazine. Radar the International Policeman (Master Comics #50-87) was, I guess, an official detective of some sort, but for whom I don't know.
Two-Fisted Adventurers: The Companions Three (Master Comics #14-31) were aviators and former football players who traveled the world in search of adventure. (As you do.) Rick O'Shay (Master Comics #1-6, Wow Comics #1-5) was an adventurer.
Potpourri: Melody Ames (singing cowboy, Cowboy Love), Johnny Blair (aviator, Captain Midnight), Flyin’ Fool (aviator, Master Comics), Morton Murch (hillbilly, hot-air balloon aviator, Master Comics), Hoodoo Hannigan (South Seas adventurer/carnival operator, Master Comics), Penny Graves (State Department spy-catcher, Wow Comics), Red Skye (aviator, Captain Midnight) and War Bird (aviator, Slam-Bang Comics) showed up in my notes.
Replies
I would like to take this opportunity to correct a well-established factoid concerning the popularity of Captain Marvel in comparison to Superman. Virtually all my life I've been reading how, at one point, Captain Marvel outsold Superman. That hardly seemed credulous to me the first time I heard it, but it was repeated so often over the years I figured it must be true. The misunderstanding comes from those circulation figures required by the post office once every year. One year (or maybe more than one year), Fawcett did report higher sales for Captain Marvel than National did for Superman. But John Jackson Miller at CBG did an analysis of these figures and discovered that Fawcett had reported the total circulation of all their titles combined, rather than a title-by-title basis. Captain Marvel never actually outsold Superman, unless you want to believe that Bulletman and Ibis and Spy Smasher (all of which reported the exact same circulation as Captain Marvel) did as well.
"Gwandanaland has a lot of this in print, in various series."
Wow, what a great site!
As far as Captain Marvel (specifically) is concerned, there's nothing in the Whiz Comics volume that has not been reprinted in the DC Archive editions (except everything else from issues #1-2, 7-12). What intrigues me is the "Sivana" collection, reprinting select appearances from the beginning through 1944. Note that these volumes are presented in a variety of price ranges to suit every budget.
Volume 1 (color)
Volume 1 (b&w)
Volume 2 (color)
Volume 2 (b&w)
Giant (v1 & v2 combined)
Note, too, that every volume has a link to Amazon.com. Amazon has the advantage of speed, but if you order directly from the site you can save 20% (but it will take longer).
I was sitting downstairs trying to read and I couldn't concentrate because I was thinking about all these great comic books! I have already put my money where my mouth is and ordered a volume via Amazon. There is so much to choose from, but what interests me the most is the 11-volume (!) set of Blue Beetle.
Certainly, that sort of Apples & Oranges comparison muddies the waters, but besides the fact that for a while Captain Marvel Adventures was published twice monthly, while neither of Superman's titles were, if you count just the Marvel Family characters (as opposed to the entire Fawcett line), I'd be surprised if all those titles combined didn't outsell Superman, Action, World's Finest, and then Superboy & More Fun/Adventure once the only Superman spin-off during Cap's original run was introduced.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
Holy Moley! Somehow Captain Marvel Jr. didn't make it from my notes to the post! I've corrected that error.
Now we can see the full picture. The original quest was to discover how many omnibuses it would take to reprint Fawcett's Marvel Family stories. If my approximate count is in the ball park, then 21 omnibuses would cover the pertinent stories and covers from Adventures of Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr., Marvel Family, Mary Marvel, Master Comics, Whiz Comics and Wow Comics. Throw in Hoppy for an even 22.
"I have already put my money where my mouth is and ordered a volume via Amazon."
No sooner do I set aside my "Strangers in Paradise" project to read some "words without pictures" than the Amazon man comes to my door with my Captain Marvel/Sivana volume from Gwandanaland. I hate cell phones, but one thing I love about living in the future is deciding to order a book on Sunday and having it in my hands two days later. The volume is softcover, a little bigger than I expected (8.5 x 11). The reproduction of some of the stories (but only some) is not quite what I had hoped, but overall I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to read these comics.
Here is a caveat about the Captain Marvel volumes. I like the idea of have a big, thick volume of all Sivana stories, BUT... if I had done a little more research I would have discovered that I already owned reprints of about half the stories in the "giant" volume (which is a combination of two smaller volumes, as described above). IF you have all four of the Shazam! archives, you already have the contents of v1 of the Sivana stories. (Also, all of the poorly reproduced stories are in the first half of the book.)
Blue Beetle is not a Fawcett character, but I did look a little closer into the contents of Gwandanaland's 11+ Blue Beetle volumes. Judging by the page counts, the individual volumes seem to be reprints of the entire contents of Mystery Men Comics, whereas the "Golden Age Giant" seems to reprint just the BB stories. The "Charlton Giant" (which reprints v9 & v10) is a good deal... IF you don't already own DC's Action Heroes archives. (Gwandanaland v9 reprints the Dan Garret BB stories, v10, Steve Ditko's Ted Kord BB.)
I might also add the the next time I order from Gwandanaland I will order directly and save 20%. It's just this first time I was so eager I couldn't wait 4-6 weeks. I think the folks who run it are genuinely sincere about offering these collections at a good, fair price.
Jeff of Earth-J said:
The volume is softcover, a little bigger than I expected (8.5 x 11). The reproduction of some of the stories (but only some) is not quite what I had hoped, but overall I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to read these comics.
According to Gwandanaland, they scan the actual comic books for their reprints. Also according to them, when better condition comics come into their possession, subsequent editions of those collections are updated with the better scans. Failing the availability of official versions, I've so far purchased (through Amazon) the single-volume collections of Sarge Steel and Nightshade. The Action Heroes Archive vol 2 from DC only had the Nightshade appearances in Captain Atom stories.